FAQ

Visitor Insurance Plans

Can I buy Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna or United Healthcare insurance for visitors to U.S.A.?

The above listed plans only provide domestic health insurance in U.S.A.
They do not provide visitors health insurance.
However, there are other reputable insurance companies focused on visitors and travel insurance provide health insurance.
You can find all of them here.

Are pre-existing conditions covered by visitors insurance plans?

None of the insurance plans cover pre-existing conditions unconditionally.
Most of them cover acute onset of pre-existing conditions.
Click here for more information.

What are the common limitations and excluded health services by visitors insurance plans?

Which plan should I purchase?

We have listed all genuine visitors insurance plans and provided filters, sorting options, and different views to find most suitable plan for your needs quickly and easily.
Most suitable plan is determined depending on premium you are willing to pay upfront, age, duration, amount of risk you are ready to share (using options plan type, policy maximum, deductible etc) in case you need to use insurance.

Why some plans are not listed on insurance administrator website?

Insurance plans such as Inbound USA, Visitors Care etc are for addressing specific customer market (visitors from India to USA).
Also,They are only offered to very few reputed insurance agents (including us) and Insurance administrators do not directly sell them on their website.
For this reason, these special plans are not listed on insurance administrator website.

How U.S.A. based insurance plans differ from Home Country (such as India) based insurance plans?

There are lot of benefits for purchasing U.S.A. based insurance plans compared to Home Country based insurance plans.
U.S.A. based plans cost a bit more.
Essentially, you get what you pay for.
It is better to pay a bit more and get insurance you are going to use than pay less and get insurance which is of no use.
We have listed below few of the benefits you get with U.S.A. based plans only.

Insurance companies work with direct billing providers.
As long as doctor is willing to directly bill insurance company, it should just work.
Higher amounts (from health care providers such as hospitals) are usually directly billed.

Insurance companies in U.S.A. are regulated. Given this, insurance companies cannot deny claims made as per insurance plan. Also, they are very quick to respond and easy to approach.

Quote, purchase and print virtual health insurance card in less than 5 minutes. Coverage can start as early as next day.

No need of medical checkup, paper work, or membership of any sort.

Reputable companies with well known underwriters and proven track record.

Most plans are renewable in case of extended stay. Renewing a policy is always better than buying new policy again. See here for more information.

Most plans are cancelable in case of early return to home country

What are the best insurance plans if visiting Canada only?

Please choose coverage area as "International Excluding U.S.A." in comparison page to see list of applicable plans.

What are group visitor insurance plans? Do they cover pre-existing conditions?

Some of the individual comprehensive visitor insurance plans have their group visitors insurance counterparts.
They are meant for group of 5 or more visitors and their premium is generally 10% less than their individual plan counterparts.
They have same benefits as individual visitor insurance plans.
So, they also only cover acute onset of pre-existing conditions.

Insurance Purchase Process

How soon should I purchase visitors insurance?

We recommend you to purchase health insurance once your travel and flight ticket is confirmed.
Also, note that most of the insurance plans are cancellable without paying any cancellation fees prior to policy effective date.

Can I purchase insurance coverage effective today?

Only Atlas Travel America lets you purchase insurance effective today.
All remaining visitor insurance plans can be purchased with effective date as early as next day.
Most insurance companies follow Eastern Standard Time.
That is, as long as you purchase prior to 12 midnight EST, you can have policy effective as early as next day.

How can I purchase visitor medical insurance?

There are multiple methods to purchase insurance.

On this website: This is the most easiest and secure way if you are paying with credit card. It should not take more than 5 minutes once you have finalized on plan.

On phone: You can call us at +1 (518) 3BE-SAFE and provide us with required information over phone.

Through email: You can fill paper application and scan and send it to us via email at info@besafeinsurance.com and we will coordinate with you for payment processing.

Can I buy insurance in U.S.A. even though my parents yet to start their travel from home country?

Yes. Anyone can purchase insurance on visitor's behalf as early as they want with effective date as far in the future as they need.

Can I purchase insurance once my parents are in U.S.A.?

Yes. Except, some insurance plans require you to purchase with in certain period of arrival in U.S.A. This period varies from plan to plan and in some cases, it also depends on visitor's age.
We recommend you to purchase before their journey begins. This will ensure insurance coverage during journey too.

Can I purchase insurance if my parents are already in U.S.A. and got sick/injured?

Yes. First and foremost, current sickness/injury will be treated as pre-existing condition and it will not be covered.
However, it is still a good idea to purchase insurance coverage for future unforeseen sickness/injury.

What is the required information to purchase visitors insurance?

Following information is required for each person to be insured.
Make sure it is accurate.
Insurance companies do not verify this information at the time of policy purchase.
But, they verify before claims are paid.

First name and Last name as mentioned in passport

Date of Birth as mentioned in the passport

Passport Issuer(Country) of primary applicant (for some plans only)

Passport Number of primary applicant (for some plans only)

We recommend visitors to get health checkup done just prior to start of their journey.
This will help in determining current health state and also this report can be used as evidence in the event insurance company perceives a new illness as pre-existing condition.
Note that health checkup is not required, but it is our recommendation as it is generally inexpensive in home country.
Also, please bring all of your health records along with required medicines supply for all pre-existing conditions and also for general health problems.

What should be start and end date of insurance coverage?

We recommend you to purchase with effective date as the date in U.S.A. when visitor started journey and End date as the same day when journey is completed.
This will ensure insurance coverage during journey too.

What is AD&D beneficiary?

It is beneficiary in case of Accidental Death & Dismemberment of the insured.
Ideally, it should be the name of close relative such as son, daughter etc.
But you can list anyone's name and along with their relationship to the insured.
Adding someone as AD&D beneficiary doesn't make them liable for medical expenses.

How age needs to be calculated?

Age is calculated as number of years completed as of policy effective date.

How much time does it take to purchase insurance?

Once you have decided on the insurance plan, deductible and policy maximum and obtained required information, it should take less than 5 minutes.
Deciding which insurance plan, deductible and policy maximum suitable for your needs might take some time.
We have built best comparison platform to make this easy and quick.
We are constantly improving to make it even better for you.

What will happen once I purchase insurance?

You will receive confirmation email with virtual health insurance card.
This card will have all the required information to contact insurance company.
Please print and show it to health service providers (doctor, hospital etc) to avail benefits provided by the plan.

Does BeSafeInsurance.com® process my credit card for payment?

No. You provide credit card information to highly reputable, secure insurance plan administrator company when you purchase insurance. We do not have access your credit card information at any time.

Insurance Policy Usage / Claims Processing

How can I use visitors insurance once purchased?

As soon as you purchase insurance, you will receive confirmation email with virtual health insurance card.
This card will have all the required information to contact insurance company along with policy details.
Please do following things as soon as you receive confirmation email.

Please take print out of virtual health insurance card and keep it with you all the times.

Please read policy details for covered services, limitations and exclusions.
Especially, go through policy and look for pre-certification requirements and make note of them.

Please find out near by primary care physician, urgent care and emergency hospital which is part of the policy's PPO Network and keep them handy.

Depending on insured's medical condition, you might be visiting one of the following types of care providers.

Emergency & Ambulance:

“Emergency” shall mean a medical condition manifesting itself by acute signs or symptoms which could reasonably result in placing the insured person’s life or limb in danger, if medical attention is not provided within 24 hours.

Please call 911 for ambulance if insured cannot be transported safely to nearest emergency care facility.
You do not need to check if emergency care facility is part of PPO network.
Benefits for emergency services will be paid same way as per the policy even if the facility is part of PPO network or not.
All emergency care facilities will directly bill insurance company. If there are any unpaid medical expenses by insurance company, they will contact you at that time.
Please follow emergency pre-certification requirements as listed in master policy.

Urgent care:

When insured needs urgent medical attention, please find a urgent care facility part of PPO network by calling customer service phone number on health insurance card or checking provider directory online.
Also, check with urgent care to see if they can directly bill insurance company to reduce paper work as most of them do.
In case of Atlas Travel America insurance, you will get 100% in-network coverage when directly billed.
Please note that some plans require additional co-payment for visiting urgent care.
Please follow pre-certification requirements as listed in master policy.

Primary care physician or Specialist doctor:

Visiting primary care physician or specialist doctor works the same way as urgent care scenario.
Please check if the doctor is part of PPO network and also if they can directly bill insurance company.
Please follow pre-certification requirements as listed in master policy.

Can I visit any health care provider (doctor, hospital etc) of my choice??

You can visit any emergency care facility of your choice in case of emergency.
In non-emergency situations, to get better in-network coverage, we recommend you to visit provider in plan's PPO network.
These PPO networks are pretty extensive and most of the providers are part of these PPO networks.
Visiting an in-network provider also gets you lower rates which are negotiated by insurance company with health care provider.

What is pre-certification?

Most plans require you to contact insurance company to establish medical necessity before major care expenses such as hospitalization, surgery, CAT scan, MRI etc are incurred.
This process is called pre-certification.
Pre-certification doesn't guarantee those expenses will get paid.
Payment of benefits are subject to terms, conditions, provisions and exclusions listed in master policy.
For some plans, if pre-certification is not done, 50% of eligible medical expenses are treated as penalty and are not paid.
So, please follow pre-certification requirements as mentioned in master policy.

Emergency Pre-certification: In case of emergency hospital admission, pre-certification must be made within 48 hours after the admission.
Anyone can call insurance company to inform them about insured person's medical condition to meet pre-certification requirements.

What is the most important issue faced during claim processing?

One and only issue that stands out is consumer's lack of understanding of plan benefits, limitations and exclusions.
Internet is full of these complaints where consumers assumed a health service as covered benefit where in fact it has limitations or it is an excluded service.
We don't think only customers are at fault. We think other insurance agents are not doing a good job of explaining limitations and exclusions on their website.
May be they think explaining clearly will discourage from purchasing insurance.
As our end goal is "customer happiness" and it is not "selling insurance at any cost", we strive to do our best to warn you about limitations and exclusions through out the website and through customer service.

How does the claim process work?

At the time of medical care, present your health insurance card to the health care provider.
They might call insurance company to check benefits, limitations and exclusions related current medical condition.
Also, at the same time request provider to directly bill insurance company.
This will reduce amount of paper work needs to be done.
If they bill you instead, make sure to get detailed bills and receipts and then submit them to insurance company as accompanying documents along with claim form.

Claim form for your plan can be found on this website or can be obtained from insurance company.
Please fill claim form in its entirety with all the details as requested.
Once filled, submit via email/fax to the contact mentioned on the form along with requested documents.
You need to submit claim with in certain duration (60 or 90 days depending on the plan) from date of service.
After submitting claim, please contact insurance company to ensure it is received and being processed.
Keep copies of all documents submitted.
If you have any questions regarding claim form, please contact insurance phone number listed on the form.
If you need any assistance with this process, please feel free to contact us.

Renewal Process

Why should I renew policy, why can't I just purchase same plan again or purchase new plan?

Most plans require you to buy insurance plan with in certain duration (varies from plan to plan) of arrival in to U.S.A.
If you are with in that duration, you can certainly purchase same plan again or even a new plan.
Even if you are eligible, it is always better to renew a policy than to buy a new policy.

Let's say, if there was an injury/illness during first coverage period, renewing policy will continue medical benefits.
Instead, if you buy same plan again or purchase new plan, this health condition will now be treated as pre-existing condition.
Even if the illness is not known but existed with reasonable medical certainty prior to purchase of new plan, it will be treated as pre-existing condition.

Miscellaneous

Can you provide with health care check list before traveling?

Get general health checkup done in home country just before visiting United States.

Bring ear plugs, chewing gum needed during take off and landing.

Please note it is cooler in flight cabin. Please dress appropriately.

Frequently walk in the flight during travel for proper blood circulation.

Bring all health records. They will help in case of illness/injury.

Bring required medicines supply for all pre-existing conditions and also for general health problems.

Bring extra pair of eye glasses.

Weather appropriate clothes.

How to get better deals and pay lowest price for a visitors insurance plan?

Insurance is regulated by law. Same insurance plan cannot be sold for different premiums.
It will be same premium irrespective of you buy directly from insurance company or any other insurance agent.
The best way to get deal is to find the most appropriate plan with only needed benefits.
This way you will pay only for the benefits you need.
We list all visitors insurance plans here to help you find appropriate plan.

Also, It is always better to purchase from knowledgeable insurance agent with excellent customer service(hint: us ) than from insurance company directly.
We will be there on your side(always) to guide you use insurance effectively and help you through claim process.
Also, since insurance company will be paying your claims, they may not be incentivized to help you with the process.
Some of the insurance companies like "International Medical Group" will assign insurance agent randomly even if you try to purchase insurance directly from them.

Why did you name the website, "BeSafeInsurance"?

There are numerous examples on the internet indicating care takers bought visitors insurance only after their loved one got sick or was met with accident.
This clearly shows many care takers are not giving due thought to visitors insurance until it is really needed.
Buying insurance once the injury or illness has taken place will not cover that incident.
It is unfortunate that we don't realize the need for health insurance until our loved ones or those of someone we know develop health issues while uninsured.
We don't need insurance until we need it, but who knows when we need it™. Be safe, be protected for when you need it.

We want to address this problem head on. We want everyone to give due thought to this.
We named our website, "BeSafeInsurance" to encourage everyone to "be safe" by thinking about protecting their loved ones health and mitigating financial risk for themselves.
Our intention is to make you think about being safe when you hear website name.
In the ideal world we imagine, everyone tries to "be safe" (avoid accidents, stay healthy, and take preventative care etc) which will result in lowered insurance premiums for everyone in the long run.
We would like to play our part in moving us in that direction.
For now, let us all agree on the fact that "Insurance is the necessary evil™" and look for suitable insurance plan for our loved ones.

Disclaimer: Each plan information listed here is for your convenience and easy comparison. Once you narrowed down to a plan, please go through plan brochure and description of coverage (master policy) for accurate and complete information on benefits, limitations and exclusions. Only terms and conditions listed in the policy purchased are binding.